If you are an artists, watch this video! If you are a teacher, then use this video as part of a project in which your students illustrate a story. Art and writing are obviously linked in books for young children, in comics and graphic novels, and also in some of the classic works of children’s literature, like Alice in Wonderland, and Wind in the Willows.

Emma T. Capps was a regular illustrator for Stone Soup from 2009 to 2011. Emma and her dad created this amazing time-lapse video, showing Emma creating an illustration for Stone Soup from start to finish. The story she illustrated, “Working for Sparkle,” appeared in the May/June 2011 issue of Stone Soup. Emma continues to make art today. She has developed quite a following for the comic strip she created: “The Chapel Chronicles.”

While Emma is no longer a young child she has not stopped drawing. Here is a link to her website. Visit Emma’s website. If you look also at her social media you will see that her interests have expanded since she was a young child. Unfortunately, you will also see that she has some serious medical problems and continues work in spite significant obstacles.

It’s neat watching the time lapse! AWESOME JOB!
p.s. do you have any tips or ideas of what drawing to show to try to become an illustrator of Stone Soup?
p.s.s. did Stone Soup ask you to make this video?

Hello everyone! This is Emma. Sorry it took me a while to get back to the comments, I didn’t even realize this was up on the website proper! Soooo, without further ado (warning, ridiculously long comment below):

Artist360: Thank you so much! I’m glad you were inspired by the way I paint. Feel free to experiment too – I picked up a lot of my techniques by making mistakes and having to fix them quickly with whatever was at hand (that’s how I got started using sponges!) Also, yes, I have had a Stone Soup cover! In the January/February 2010 issue, I got my first story published. It was called “Plant a Thimble” and I illustrated it myself. The illustration was featured on the cover! You can see it at: http://chapelchronicles.com/pages/works?index=3

Jessiethought: Thanks a lot! I would love to pursue art and writing as my full-time career (I also have written stories for Stone Soup in the past, along with illustrating them!)

Sunny: No, it only took me 6.5 hours! That period is pretty hard to see… also, it took me a while to be accepted as an illustrator. My main problem at first was that I was submitting drawings that either had a landscape or a character, but not both. I actually got my first assignment after I submitted a comic book I’d done, which was one of my first pieces where I showed I could draw lots of characters interacting in a scene. Aaaand, no, Stone Soup didn’t ask me to make the video! I make lots of videos like these for my various projects (I also have a line of greeting cards and comic strips) and I decided to do one for my last Stone Soup illustration. Once I finished the video, I asked if they’d put it on their website!

Phew, okay, that was a LOT of responding. Thank you all for leaving such wonderful comments, it really means a lot to me! I’ve had a great time writing and illustrating for Stone Soup, and I’m sad I’m too old to submit now. I still enjoy reading it every month though!

HI everyone! This is Emma again! I didn’t realize there were more comments on my video, so I’ll respond to a few of them!

Sunny: What do you mean by suggestions? Suggestions on how to get into the Stone Soup magazine? I addressed this a little bit in my last response comment, but let me know if you have a more specific question…

omg: Thank you so much! If you want, you can look at my comic Chapel Chronicles, which I update every week. Besides that, I’m constantly working on new drawings and illustrations — I’m so glad you like my work!

Zoe Larkey & AJClark1: Thank you both so much! I’m glad you think so! It really means a lot to me that people are commenting on this video even when it has been a few years since I’ve been able to submit to Stone Soup. Thank you!

I saw your illustration on ‘Working for Sparkle’. I think your illustrations make a lot of sense and what really interests me is that you actually write AND illustrate stories, which means you have a lot of talent. If you design a whole story, do you write it out first, or do you draw some things and that inspires you to write a story along with it? I really love your stories, and I’d really like to have my work on stone soup, so any advice…? Thanks, Emma! Your comics are awesome as well, I’ve seen some…

The video was really inspiring. It gave my daughter an idea of the time and effort that go into an illustration. That she shouldn’t expect to finish an entire piece in just 1/2 hour. The quality of the video was very fuzzy, so we couldn’t really see what you were painting or what you were doing all that much until you held it up for us to see.

You are a wonderful artist, Emma: You have a true talent for creating artwork. I love your other pieces as well. I see great things in the future for you, and as a fellow artist, I think you did a wonderful job. Also, I love your Chapel comics; they are one of the best I’ve seen in a long time. 🙂

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